Ask kmvenne anything! Session 2

Let's start a new session so we can keep my essays from breaking your scrool bar finger before you get to your question...

Here's how Ask kmvenne Anything(tm) works:

Step 1) You post a comment and ask me anything

Step 2) I reply on this post

Keep the good stuff coming. I'll be on and off all day, I got things to do, some of them work, some of them play, some of them will probably include drinking hard liquor. Which should be a bonus, who knows how I'll answer something after I've had a few. Have at it at your convience.

What do you think about the Lakers/Rockets series? And do you think when T-Macs career is over, is he a HOF? I DO

Response:

I'm rooting for the Lakers in the series. The Rockets are 7-1 dogs at my sportsbook. I wouldn't take those odds. Rockets are a good team, but the Lake Show is a bad matchup for them. The Rockets are a good defensive team, but average on the offensive end all season, and play at a slow pace. The Lakers go on too many runs for a methodical team like Houston to counter. It's just asking too much of Houston to comtain L.A.'s explosiveness.

Anyone who denies that T-Mac is a HOFer when his career is over is stupid. McGrady is a lock, it's not close.

Nope. Overtimes do not a great series make. Who is this suprised that the Celtics minus KG are equal to the Bulls? I bet the Bulls at 5 to 1, so I'm enjoying it, but seriously, this doesn't suprise me THAT MUCH.

Don't get me wrong, the games are fantastic, clutch plays left and right. But honestly, the level of basketball is lacking. These arn't elite teams. The Magic will spank the winner. The greatest series I ever saw was the Sonics/Jazz series in I think 1997. Those were two elite teams, granted MJ's Bulls would spank whoever won, but you talk about passion, great basketball for 40 minutes, and two teams that just didn't like each other, that was it.

The best 1st round series I ever saw was 1999 Knicks/Heat. That series was better then Bulls/C's.

Bulls/C's is one of the top about 6-8 series I've ever seen. But really, this is like a epic 4-5 first round matchup. How epic can it really be?

Message #3: D2Moo asks.... 1. How did you get so good at Joe's caption game?

Response:

The odd thing is, I've done some standup, and I like comedy in general. But I perform and listen to the really blue stuff (most the time). I think since I make mostly off-color jokes in real life, I get my clean comedy out on the caption game, and so far, so good.

Pretty high from what I understand, but I am no expert on that subject. Simmons sure thinks so.

3. Should we want them back? At least we would get to see the other teams.

Response:

YES! Don't doubt the Kings ownership. They know not to spend when they have no shot, but they want to win, not make a buck. The Maloof's do it the right way. They have given some bad contracts out, but hey, nobodies perfect. I respect the Kings' brass, they would be an above average NBA team to have in your town over a 20 year stretch.

In my worldview, it is impossible to be overpaid. The free market sets your worth. If you maximize it, you are paid correctly. If you could make more elsewhere, you are underpaid. It's not my job to judge the market maker's ability to define player value, teams have a whole staff for that. I defer the judgement on the worth of a player to the experts in the field, which I am not, nor do I pretend to be.

NBA salaries are something like 53% of the NBA's net revenue. The NFL has a similar model. The idea of "here is the revenue pie, and players, you will always get x%" seems fair to me. MLB players can be harder to defend, but the MLB proved this year that it will pay market value, but adjust that for market conditions. The fact Adam Dunn and Bobby Abreu are only making $5 MM shows even MLB teams spend with some level of prudence.

It's a multi-billion dollar business. The showmen get a chunk both sides think is fair enough, a chunk reevaulated each collective bargining aggreement. I let those aggrements be the final word on athlete's salary in my world.

NOTE: Bad contracts (from my message to D2MOO) doesn't mean someone was overpaid (my point to GoCavs). It means the contract ended up not producing the value expected. No contract is bad when it is signed. We judge them with complete information, teams and players agree to them with incomplete information. It's this knowledge gap that makes some contracts seem awful.

Which Eastern Conference 3 seed (obvious on purpose) beat the East's number 1 seed by 28 points? Why is this so overlooked when when people continue to pump up the 1 seed as the best team in the conference? 28 points seems like a large number to me.

Response:

BoDog sportsbook ran a promotion where you could bet $50 on any team to win the NBA finals to start the playoffs, and if the Lakers won, you get your money back. Most everyone said "It's like a free bet on the Cavs!".

I bet the Magic as soon as I saw the promo. The Magic are the one team you cannot beat if they bring their A+ game. You can't outshoot them, you can't defend them down low, you can't even cheat them with dropping your head, driving to the rim, getting 2 shots, and throwing chalk in Superman's eyes.

28 is a large number indeed. Hollinger teaches us all about margin of victory. Sleeping on the Magic is downright foolish.

Bill Clinton was one of our best presidents ever? What was his downs and ups? and FDR?

Response:

Bill Clinton is generally considered by historians to be a slightly better then middle of the road President. roughly our 20th best overall. Honestly, not that much happened in his 8 years as far as policy goes of real significance. Clinton's leglislative successes include the line-item veto, which got shot down in courts, the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which did a lot good and bad for radio and TV, The Family and Medical Leave Act, which helps women who are pregnant keep their jobs with unpaid leave mandatory, a fine bill.

Clinton also raised taxes on the rich and on businesses, restricted gun rights, increased the number of crimes that can get the federal death penalty. increased the minimum wage, AmeriCorps, welfare reform and some other, lesser bills. Many of his top priorities, like health care and campaign finance reform, never got passed. Obviously Clinton's scandals were numerous. Lewinski, Paula Jones, Watergate, taking money from the Chinese in an effort for China to influence public policy, and Troopergate were all huge scandals.

The biggest mistake of all by Clinton was rejecting the Sudan governments' offer on THREE occasions, in 1996, 1998, and 2000, for the Sudanese to arrest Osama bin Laden and hand him to us. At the time we knew bin Laden had bombed two of our embassies, and he would later, of course, bomb the USS Cole ship and direct the events of 9/11. Cinton's failure to simply accept bin Laden was one of this countries biggest failures of all time.

FDR is considered one of our greatest presidents by historians. He is almost always top 3. Most of what he did was well known, and typical reaction to his presidency falls on party lines. He's far too expansive to tackle in full. Any specific questions on FDR?

The median joblessness rate throughout the New Deal was 17.2 percent and never went below 14 percent. In the book FDR's Follys, which I own, it is said the New Deal's problems including "doubling taxes, making it more expensive for employers to hire people, making it harder for entrepreneurs to raise capital, demonizing employers, destroying food...breaking up the strongest banks, forcing up the cost of living, channeling welfare away from the poorest people and enacting labor laws that hit poor African Americans especially hard." Most economists and historians in other countries believe the New Deal extended, not cured, the Great Depression. He also tried to take all gold held by private citizens for reasons I don't fully understand, it was illegal to own gold bouillon from the New Deal to the Ford administration.

Bad: Japanese interment camps/failure to save the Jews in WWII

FDR sent over 120,000 Japanese Americans to lockup camps called "War Relocation Camps" during WWII. Over 60% of them were American citizens. It was just a racist, unnecessary action and did nothing to stop spies. He also denied Jews safe harbor in the US before the US joined the war, and was slow to fight Hitler.

Good: FEMA

Hey, FEMA is a good idea, even if Bush forgot how to use it.

Good: Leadership during WWII

Goes without saying.

Social Security is what it is. Wealth distribution isn't something I'm totally against, I wish people were charitable enough in their community that we could take care of ourselves, but that is not the case. I can't believe 1 in 6 recipients rely on it as their only form of income, SS should be a bonus, not a lifeline.

I'm not a good enough amateur economist to know when SS will run out. The experts don't even know for sure. I support privatization of SS. The idea we are too dumb as a nation to have a degree of control of our SS account insults me. I believe even modest, safe investments would generate higher returns on our current SS accounts and save the US billions.

SS won't ever be a problem for this country as long as we make good economic decisions as a nation. If we stay the world leader, then our government paper issues will continue to be where the world flocks for save haven investments and we will be able to fund these social programs. If we make mistakes and a country like China surpasses us and our debt issues lose respect, we are in trouble, with SS and a host of other programs.

Ask kmvenne anything! Session 2

Actually Orlando is 2-0 against LA too, but in a finals matchup, J.J. Redick would probally guard Kobe

Since: Dec 17, 2007

Posted on: May 1, 2009 8:11 pm

Ask kmvenne anything! Session 2

Yes, what did he do good? bad? Social SecuritY?

Since: Dec 17, 2007

Posted on: May 1, 2009 6:39 pm

Ask kmvenne anything! Session 2

Bill Clinton was one of our best presidents ever? What was his downs and ups? and FDR?

Since: Jun 4, 2008

Posted on: May 1, 2009 3:52 pm

Ask kmvenne anything! Session 2

Which Eastern Conference 3 seed (obvious on purpose) beat the East's number 1 seed by 28 points? Why is this so overlooked when when people continue to pump up the 1 seed as the best team in the conference? 28 points seems like a large number to me.

Since: Oct 12, 2008

Posted on: May 1, 2009 2:47 pm

Ask kmvenne anything! Session 2

Are professional athletes over paid?

Since: Dec 7, 2007

Posted on: May 1, 2009 12:47 pm

Ask kmvenne anything! Session 2

1. How did you get so good at Joe's caption game?

2. Odds that the Kings move back to KC if they don't get a new arena.

3. Should we want them back? At least we would get to see the other teams.

Since: Apr 11, 2008

Posted on: May 1, 2009 12:26 pm

Ask kmvenne anything! Session 2

Is this year's Bulls/Celtics series the best series ever?

Since: Dec 17, 2007

Posted on: May 1, 2009 12:13 pm

Ask kmvenne anything! Session 2

What do you think about the Lakers/Rockets series? And do you think when T-Macs career is over, is he a HOF? I DO

The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of CBS Sports or CBSSports.com